She’s also learning the road to success in stock cars is not always clearly marked.

“You
go out for the first practice and everybody knows what they’re doing,
and then there’s me who doesn’t even know how to get out of the garage
area,“ Patrick said Friday after a practice session at Michigan
International Speedway. “I get out there, and everyone else is so much
more comfortable getting up to speed.

“I find myself spending the first 10 laps looking at my mirrors more than anything.“

Patrick,
who will make her sixth career Nationwide Series start today in the
Carfax 250 at MIS, still is looking for her first top-20 finish in the
series.

She hopes a little local knowledge might help today. She
raced three times in Brooklyn in an Indy car with a best finish of
seventh in 2007.

The IndyCar Series remains home to Patrick. She’s
planning on splitting duty between Indy cars and stock cars again in
2011 before possibly making the decision of which racing path to take.

For now, the comfort level resides on the open-wheel side of the equation.

“The
IndyCar Series is my primary focus this year,“ Patrick said. “I’m doing
the full season in that, and I think about that a lot. In NASCAR, I’m
still learning the basics.

“I’ve only had a handful of races in these
cars. It’s not enough to really make any decisions. I just don’t have
any answers for that yet. It’s so early on."

First things first, like the answers her crew members are looking for as they try to make her cars go faster.

“Because
of my knowledge of an Indy car and the technical aspects of it, I can
be more helpful,“ she said. “ My engineer (in IndyCar) and I can work
together a little bit more and play off each other a little bit more."

In
NASCAR, there’s still a bit of a language barrier between Patrick and
her crew. Every race, that gap closes a little bit as she learns the
rules of this new game.

“I definitely don’t have that kind of
technical help to offer (crew chief) Tony (Eury) Jr.,“ Patrick said.
“It’s just so over my head right now. When we make changes on the
weekend or on test days, my crew chief tells me what the changes are and
what they do.

“It’s a constant learning process for me."

Patrick
participated in Thursday’s all-day Nationwide Series test at MIS and
showed off her team’s new Hot Wheels-themed car Friday.

“I’m probably
not the best person to give you a new-car perspective," Patrick said.
“I honestly can’t tell the difference. I’ve never been here in a stock
car. All I know is that inside the car, it’s comfortable, there’s plenty
of space.

“Ignorance is bliss on some level. Maybe that will play into the new car."

Patrick’s goals are modest for today’s race.

“I’m
hoping for a top-15, top-20 finish, and I didn’t quite get in the
top-20 last time," said Patrick, who finished 24th in her last
Nationwide Series race at Chicagoland. “We’ll see what we can do."